


And All That Jazz

by Straccia_Tella



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (or my poor excuse of one), 1920's AU, Gen, How do I tag?, Some Swearing, Team Bonding, allura's the lead singer, keith and lance still argue like morons, they're basically a jazz band
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 01:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16651681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Straccia_Tella/pseuds/Straccia_Tella
Summary: The synchronization of the instruments and voices, the wide smiles on each of their faces as the music hit its climax. The moment where nothing else in the room mattered but the other five members becoming one song, essentially one being. As the music hit its penultimate point, in that moment, they shared one heartbeat, and one mind. This was the moment the group lived for, and once the loud applause and stomping feet echoed afterwards they all turned towards each other all grinning knowingly at the bond they shared.





	And All That Jazz

  Liquor, cigarette smoke, and jazz. In a time where the prohibition law still hung over the people like a heavy hangover, the Lion’s Den provided a haven for those who sought a place to forget all of those rules. One of the bigger draws to this particular speakeasy was the band that played every night, filling the clandestine establishment with their music. While there were times when some of the members couldn’t make it, the nights when everyone came together was a show many of the patrons gathered to see and would never forget.

  After one of their nightly performances, the group sat down at their own private table, laughing over the stories of their day or briefly going over their next song. Shiro sat on the far right, running his eyes over the music sheets and moving his fingers along the table to each of the notes he read. Sitting by his side was Keith, whose eyes roamed around the speakeasy, taking in the patrons that walked around, and passed drinks between each other. Hunk was next to him, fiddling with the table cloth by Pidge who was squished between him and Lance. Lance was leaning dangerously close to the edge of their booth, nodding his head to the song the current band was playing.

  “Sorry about messing up on that last beat, guys,” Hunk said. “I swear, I really did practice, but I always get a little unnerved up on the stage. With the audience’s eyes staring down at me. With those judging, bored, and cold eyes...”

  “It’s alright Hunk, you were able to recover and the audience probably thought you were just improvising, people love that,” Shiro assured. “Just try not to think too much on your mistakes.”

  “Man, I was on fire tonight!” Lance laughed, downing his shot glass and then strummed the air like a guitar as he leaned onto an exasperated Pidge. “Bet all the ladies will be wanting a piece of Lancey­-Lance once the show is all over! You know what I mean, Pidge?”

  “With how loud you are I’m surprised you weren’t the one to take up trumpeting,” Pidge muttered, spinning a cherry from their glass of Coca­Cola and popping the fruit into her mouth. She sucked and rolled the seed around her cheeks before spitting it out into a nearby empty glass with a satisfying _tink_.

  Lance laughed and wrapped an arm around their youngest member. Her expression seemed to be wondering why she decided to be squashed between her two friends.

  “Lighten up, Pidgey! Have a drink with me!”

  “Matt will lecture my ear off if I do, and I’m pretty certain my parents will literally kill me if they catch a whiff of alcohol coming from my breath!” Pidge argued, trying to push Lance away from them.

  “Don’ worry, it’ll be our littttle sheecret,” Lance held a finger up to his lips, but started to slur his mouth when he started smush his lips together instead of shushing himself.

  “If you get too drunk to play your drums, don’t blame it on us,” Keith grumbled, who sat across from Lance and crossed his arms.

  Despite ordering a drink, his glass of rum was left untouched. The little bit of candlelight that reflected off of his red tie made the crimson glow beneath his eyes appear extremely ominous. He was either grumpy because Shiro chased him down until his hair was combed and waxed back, or he was just feeling claustrophobic in their benches.

  “Shut up, Keith! I can hold my liquor!” Lance yelled, undoing his blue necktie like he was ready to start throwing hooks. “Unlike you who passes out after a glass of scotch. Want me to prove it? I can see o’er there, that guy has a gold tooth in his... right top tooth.”

  “Really? Then how many fingers am I holding up?” Keith asked, flipping the bird in front of Lance’s face. “Come on, guess. Or do you want a hint?”

  “Knock it off you two, please,” Shiro sighed looking up from his sheets in annoyance and took a sip of water.

  Someone made a quiet “ahem”, and it was a miracle the group even heard her over the ruckus everyone around them were making.

  “Allura!” They all said in unison, addressing their lead singer who had changed her business attire into a short sleeve light blue and white sequins, contrasting heavily towards the other member’s suits and colorful ties.

  “I believe the last thing Coran would want around is for someone to ruin the furniture, unless you’d be willing to pay for the damages.” She said, pushing her hair back to adjust the flower over her ear and sat down next to Shiro causing everyone else to scooch over with some light grumbling. “He’s already being lenient on letting you have drinks for free at no extra charge.”

  “Then can you tell Lance to not drink so much after a performance?” Hunk said, hoping that Lance’s crush on her would influence his behavior. “He claims it helps him with his performance high, or something.”

  "It’s called adrenaline,” Pidge muttered as she spat another seed into the cup. “I only had two shots,” Lance muttered and twirled his glass onto the table, but started to glance at Keith’s untouched drink.  
  “Glad you could make it. I hope that last song wasn’t too hard on you, princess,” Shiro said and Allura grinned.  
  “Don’t worry, it wasn’t. I’m more concerned about your prosthetic keeping up with all of these performances.”  
  “Hunk and I checked it over before we hit the stage and everything seems to be in place,” Pidge piped up, stretching one of her suspenders with her thumbs and glanced at Shiro’s arm, her eyes practically glowing behind her large glasses. “Well, unless he wants us to check again.”

  “I’m fine,” Shiro said, ruffling her hair. “No more tinkering until after the show.”

  They all settled down into quiet conversations with Allura and Shiro figuring out what their last performance for the night should be, and whispering something between each other that the others couldn’t quite catch. While Hunk and Pidge talked about the new radio they were hoping to purchase, this left Lance and Keith to settle down and share a cigarette. Coran approached the group, straightening his suit and twirling his mustache.

  “Everyone here alright? You’re going to be up in twenty minutes, so be sure to get yourselves set up.”

  They all nodded and stood up, stretching their limbs as they walked to the stage behind the curtains. Shiro had everyone huddle together, like he always did before each of their performances to give his usual pep talk.

  "Alright guys, remember, this will be the last song for tonight, so make it count. I’ve been getting big tips for my special Coranic Tonic, and I hope we get more for this show. I’ll be in the back getting the old pipes ready!”

  Hunk watched as Coran leave to go grab his trombone and leaned over to Pidge.

  “I think he only got huge tips from those people is so he wouldn’t give them any more of his special “Coranic Tonic”.”

  Pidge made a sound from her clarinet that was either like a squeaky floorboard or a snorting pig. Coran returned with his instrument looking confused, but bristled his mustache and marched into place.

  “Hey, if we’re going to go out, why not with a bang?” Lance asked, twirling the drumsticks in his fingers. “Where’s the fun if we don’t take risks?”

  “It isn’t always about the individual performance, Lance,” Allura said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “We’ve made it this far by working together and knowing how to synchronize with everyone.”

  “I know,” he pouted. “Just makin’ a suggestion.”

  “But you’re right in one way,” she said and the other four looked up at her curiously. “If we’re going to end the night, let’s do it with panache.”

  They all initially exchanged bewildered looks before smiling in agreement, getting themselves into positions. Allura took to the mic, Shiro seated himself at the piano, Hunk breathed as he lifted tuned his cello, Pidge raised her clarinet to her lips, Coran got his trombone ready, Keith hefted his trumpet up and Lance tapped his foot impatiently at the floor. In the darkness they heard the announcer's voice declaring their presence.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, performing their final song of the night, and the ones you’ve all been waiting for! Give it up for the Paladins of Voltron!”

  As the red curtains began to rise, Shiro immediately set the song in motion, quickly followed by the other accompanying him. The blood began to course through their bodies and the heat from the spotlight began to seep into their skin, but none of that matter. At this moment, nothing but the group existed.

  Allura began to sing and enchant the crowd, shining to the rhythm Lance began to beat the drums with increased ferocity, sweat pouring down his forehead. Keith, Coran and Pidge belted out their notes while Hunk followed behind with his cello. When Allura began the next verse, to the groups surprise, Shiro began joining her, hitting each of the piano’s keys with incredible accuracy, a wide grin spreading on his face.

  The synchronization of the instruments and voices, the wide smiles on each of their faces as the music hit its climax. The moment where nothing else in the room mattered but the other five members becoming one song, essentially one being. As the music hit its penultimate point, in that moment, they shared one heartbeat, and one mind. This was the moment the group lived for, and once the loud applause and stomping feet echoed afterwards they all turned towards each other all grinning knowingly at the bond they shared.

  Once the final beat hit, the audience roared and clapped, filling the speakeasy and the others looked to each other with wide grins on their faces.

  As they ignored the bright spotlight shining down on each of them as the curtains drew to a close, it covered up the group like they had been a dream.

  “What a night,” Shiro said and they all agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the other piece of what I wrote for a zine that unfortunately didn't make it to print. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it!


End file.
